A German Patent Laid-Open Publication DE 199 36 252 A1 discloses a roof opening and closing device of this kind. This known device includes a displacement mechanism which displaces a roof panel and a back window having a back window frame and a back window glass via a guide and links. The displacement mechanism overlaps the roof panel over the back window and displaces them so as to be stowed in a luggage room. In this roof opening and closing device, a back window glass of the back window is displaced upwards in relation to a back window frame by the link driven by the displacement mechanism when the roof panel and the back window are stowed in the luggage room. Thereby, a usable space in the luggage room is enlarged.
In the above device, an one end of the back window glass is rotatably connected to an one end of the back window frame and the link rises only the other end of the back window. Therefore, the height of one end of side of the back window glass is the same as the height of the back window frame and the usable space in the luggage room can be not enlarged sufficiently.
A need thus exists for a roof opening and closing device which can enlarge the usable space in the luggage room in which the roof panel and the back window are stowed.